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Why Volunteer?

There are more people fleeing persecution today than at any time since World War II. As the need for help becomes more critical, however, countries with traditionally liberal asylum policies, among them the United States, have developed new barriers to turn away refugees seeking protection.

Collectively, volunteer and staff lawyers working with our host organizations represent more than 1,500 clients from more than 70 countries. These cases generally involve representation of an individual seeking asylum, including preparation of an application with a supporting brief and affidavits and a hearing before an INS administrative law judge. These cases provide great training for new litigators and are tremendous opportunities for people interested in human rights issues.

Why Join?

This website contains tremendous online support and resources for its participating lawyers, including news, a calendar of trainings and events, online listings of new cases for volunteers, and an online library of training manuals, briefs and practice materials.

The participants in this practice area come from many of the country's most prestigious law firms and public interest organizations. If you are interested in becoming a part of this growing online community, apply for membership now!

This practice area is maintained by Human Rights First, the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights of the SF Bay Area, Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights, Northwest Immigrant Rights Project and Pro Bono Net with assistance from the Open Society Institute and the law firm of Davis Polk & Wardwell.